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Intensive care medicine · Sep 2002
Case ReportsLife-threatening hyperkalaemia following therapeutic barbiturate coma.
- Christopher J S Cairns, Benjamin Thomas, Stephen Fletcher, Michael J A Parr, and Simon R Finfer.
- Intensive Care Unit, Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, Sydney NSW, 2065, Australia.
- Intensive Care Med. 2002 Sep 1;28(9):1357-60.
ObjectiveTo report the occurrence of life-threatening hyperkalaemia following treatment with therapeutic thiopentone coma.SettingThe neurosurgical intensive care units of Royal North Shore Hospital and Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia.PatientsThree patients treated with theraputic thiopentone coma. One patient with raised intracranial pressure secondary to a severe traumatic brain injury and two patients with refractory vasospasm secondary to subarachnoid haemorrhage. Two of the three patients developed hypokalaemia on starting thiopentone, which was resistant to potassium supplementation. All three patients developed severe hyperkalaemia during the recovery phase of coma. This was life-threatening in all three patients and fatal in one.ConclusionsSevere hypokalaemia refractory to potassium therapy may occur during therapeutic thiopentone coma. Severe rebound hyperkalaemia may occur after cessation of thiopentone infusion. Protocols for the management of patients with therapeutic barbiturate coma should recognise this potentially serious complication.
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